Category: News

We have never played indoors on August 13.  In 1986, we split off from Camper Van Beethoven and headlined the old Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem.  This would appear to be the ideal moment for us to meet Phil Morrison, but Georgia tells me we already had been introduced.  Be that as it may, I can recall watching the skies, as the weather was threatening, and our tenuous tour finances depended on this Wednesday night payday.  (As I think I’ve made clear, I rely on years of notes for these reports, but somehow I did not have to consult a calendar to come up with this show being on a Wednesday, only to confirm my recollection.  I wish I could summon up similar reserves of memory to locate the missing disc of my copy of Roots of a Revolution.)  Twenty years later, we were in Saratoga, CA for what appears to have been the one and only Bleeding Edge festival.  Due to a dispute with the community, our stage was abandoned mid-construction, and we performed on a patio, creating a Bobby Fuller Four/Ghost in the Invisible Bikini vibe (although I don’t recall the necessity of insect repellent in the AIP movie).  Great set by Matmos with guest Zeena Parkins.

 

Ten years ago today, we played a fundraiser for John Kerry’s presidential campaign at the unsurprisingly defunct Spirit New York nightspot.  It was quite the eclectic bill–music from the artist formerly known as  John Wesley Harding and French Kicks; comedy from Lewis Black, Demetri Martin, Rachel Dratch and Paul Scheer; not to mention–are you getting a feel for how long this event was?–Jonathan Lethem, before-the-fall Eliot Spitzer, then-Manhattan borough president C. Virginia Fields, and the candidate’s stepson Chris Heinz.  We dug deep for some hard-hitting political material and came up with Bobby Marchan’s “Rockin Behind the Iron Curtain.”  I’ve managed to block pretty much this whole night from my memory, and just in case Georgia or James remember it better, I’m not asking.

Finally for today, a PS to our post of August 10, courtesy of Bob Bannister: Ah – a marvelous YLT history post because, as current bass-player in TSIN, I know Chris Nelson well enough to report that the tail-bone tumble actually cracked a vertebra which, tough guy that he is, was not revealed until an X-ray for an unrelated problem a decade later. Also I was at the 1990 Maxwell’s show and, tough guy that he is not, the bottle smashing was amazing in a “true punk-rock moment” way.  The fact that a “true punk-rock moment” could still be had in 1990 is testament to Chris’s genius.

 

Probably the most memorable band experience on this day came in 1986, and I can’t say I exactly remember it.  But our run of dates opening for Camper Van Beethoven took us from Baltimore to Norfolk.  I’d wager that makes August 11 our first visit to Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que in Williamsburg, Virginia, led there by our well-thumbed copy of whichever edition of Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood and/or Goodfood was current.  It was tasty enough to make us regulars at Bloomingdale’s during the period in which Pierce’s pulled pork was for some reason available.  We were certainly grateful to Camper Van Beethoven for letting us tag along on five shows, but would it have been too much for them to schedule our Norfolk appearance to coincide with the Tidewater Tides being in town?  Apparently so.

 

Olaf and Angelika send: Greetings from Hamburg.  When we met each other on August 10, 1995, it was at a dance named No Pop, so it seemed consequent that we went to see Yo La Tengo on the same day 10 years later at The Fabrik in Hamburg to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Support was to us unknown NY band The Scene Is Now and for the encore, singer Chris Nelson came up to the stage, joined the band, and when he jumped/fell off stage, he landed straight on his tailbone.  We felt the pain just looking at it, but he stood up as if it was nothing, continuing his way through the crowd.  (We wondered what he might have felt like the next day. . . .)

A great gig, a great memory–and a perfect evening for an anniversary celebration.

PS: Could you please schedule to play in Hamburg on August 10, 2020? Thanks in advance!

I’ve got to admit I don’t recall Chris breaking the fourth wall, although of course it has the ring of truth.  I’m reminded of an anecdote I didn’t get to on March 16.  In 1990, we were playing Maxwell’s.   Most if not all of those who had heard from us about Chris’s European performances in the spring of 1989 were having trouble reconciling our stories with the person they knew, so we invited Chris to sing “1969” during our encore.  He instantly shattered a beer bottle against the stage left wall, which was enough for Gene Holder, playing bass, who positioned himself as far upstage as he could, and didn’t move till the song was over.  Then Chris entered the audience, and commenced jostling people until he found someone who would push back.   As I write, Chris is recovering from non-singing-induced injuries, and here’s hoping that The Scene Is Now is back in action in the near future.  Until then, you can enjoy his particular savoir faire here.

 

The mailbag overflows with memories of August 9 . . .

The first is from Steve in Baltimore, who presumably is writing about 1986, when we got to open for the Slickee Boys.  “Specific date and year” is tough to recall but it was Yo La Tengo’s first appearance at the original 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.  Standing up against the stage were my friend Mike Goldman and I.  We had recently formed a band with grandiose expectations and all the best musical influences, but a deficit of talent among the two members who weren’t Mike.  If that early incarnation of YLT noticed one person in the 9:30 audience whose response to the performance seemed inordinately enthusiastic, it must have been Mike.

My specific memory: at some point, Mike leaned over toward me and yelled, “They sound like us!”  Anyone who’d heard us play might not consider it a compliment, but I immediately understood and agreed.  At least, it sounded like what I imagined we’d sound like, on a good night, perhaps.  That memory stayed with me through years when I was a less-than-avid YLT fan who nevertheless seemed destined to cross paths with your band intermittently, until I finally wised up and realized that you are one of my favorite artists.  Thanks for three decades of sounding like us, only much better!  

We’ve only played two shows on this date, and both of them elicited emails! Klaus has all the facts:

2005-08-09 Tue: Yo La Tengo, Columbia Fritz, Berlin, Germany

Second time I saw, first time with my girlfriend. Support was “The Scene Is Now”. Can’t remember any songs, [correction: most of the facts] but what started out quiet, turned into something that kept my ears ringing for about a week. Roughly during the third song, Ira activated his distortion pedals for the first time. What a shock and a surge of energy and volume. Very impressive.  Since many people are writing to you about how you and your music affected their love life: Around that time, “prisoners of love” came out, and my girlfriend subsequently bought it. The first and up to now (I think) only time that she bought a record of a band that I already had records of.  All the best!

Finally, we’d like to wish a happy sixth birthday to Georgia from Baltimore!   Chris & Karen write: On August 9, 2008 our second daughter was born.  Inspired by the most badass drummer in rock, we named her Georgia.

 

Twenty-eight years ago today, Georgia, Dave Schramm, Stephan and I get in the station wagon for our first full-fledged tour.  A roaring success it will not be, and things get off to an appropriately inauspicious start on opening night at J.C. Dobbs in Philadelphia.  Headliner Smash Palace (ex-Quincy) did not want to move their drum kit, a common occurrence–we too leave ours in place when the stage size allows.  The small Dobbs stage did not leave that possibility (nor in fact did it fit more than two people standing next to each other), so Georgia was told to use Smash Palace’s drums instead of her own, with the proviso that she wouldn’t change the way they were set up.  Problem: Georgia’s left-handed, and SP’s drummer was righty.  Can’t recall how this situation was resolved, but I’m reasonably sure it involved cheesesteaks at Jim’s and shopping at Philadelphia Record Exchange.   Today, J.C. Dobbs operates as The Legendary Dobbs, Philadelphia Record Exchange has left its longtime South Street home, but Smash Palace rocks on!